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Language Assistance

The United States Attorney’s Office is committed to ensuring services are readily available to all individuals.  If an individual has limited English proficiency (LEP) the following language assistance is available:

Walk-ins:  Should an LEP individual come into the office and the receptionist is unable to communicate with the individual, a language identification card, found in the lobby, will be utilized to determine the language the LEP individual speaks and understands.  The receptionist will then contact Tele-Interpreters for assistance.  An interpreter fluent in the language will be put on the line and be able to communicate with the LEP individual.

Telephone Calls:  If an LEP individual telephones the office, the receptionist will try to determine what language the caller is speaking and follow the procedure outlined above.  If the language cannot be determined, a telephone-call-back number will be obtained and a qualified interpreter will be contacted to call the LEP individual.

Victim Witness Unit:  The office has available in six languages the following information:
      Information and Assistance for Victims and Witnesses Brochure
      Federal Domestic Violence Laws Brochure
The languages are:  Spanish, French, Khmer, Vietnamese, Somali, and Arabic.
The office also has Victim Notification System brochures in Spanish and English.
If other translation/interpreting services are necessary the victim witness staff will utilize the Tele-Interpreter service for initial contact and then coordinate with local translation/interpreting services to provide face to face follow-up if necessary.

Case Related Needs:  All translation/interpreting services for civil, criminal or the financial litigation unit cases should be handled by interpreters certified by the District Court.  This shall include meetings, depositions, debriefings and interviews with LEP individuals.  If the language needed is not available on the court list and/or there are concerns regarding the use of local translation/interpreting services, victim witness services will contact and coordinate services with a provider outside the district.

Updated January 27, 2015